The trend for many years has been to minimize the time patients remain in a hospital or other care facility before discharge. There are various reasons for this trend, including the high cost of medical care as well as the availability of beds. Discharge from the hospital depends, of course, on the patient""s condition, and the patient""s condition may depend on whether or not the patient is ambulatory. With certain patients, however, getting up and walking is a struggle. This is especially true when the patient must be connected to various medical appliances, such as intravenous drips, epidural infusions, telemetry devices, and/or Foley catheters. Having to walk about with this equipment attached not only saps the patient""s strength but is clumsy and may even be hazardous. Moreover, hospital gowns in common use discourage such patient activity.
Certain of the medical appliances in use require tubes or wires that are normally draped from a place of attachment on the patient""s body to another part of the appliance. Walking around within tubing attached may be awkward for some patients. If the tubing is allowed to hang down, it may drag on the floor and possibly become entangled with the patient""s feet or cause the patient to trip and fall. Moreover, since these appliances are connected to the body, either with tubing, or wire leads in the case of a telemetry device, they can create pulling forces on the various points of body attachment which may add to the patient""s discomfort and cause a disconnection of the tubing or leads, resulting in possible adverse consequences to the patient and perhaps also in embarrassment.
In using an IV unit, the patient must be concerned not only with dangling tubing and its body attachment but also with maneuvering the mobile stand that holds the intravenous fluid supply. Catheter units on the other hand present some of the foregoing problems but also various concerns about the location of the receptacle. From a medical standpoint, keeping the bag below the bladder is very important in minimizing the risk of infection. Many patients consider their appearance of utmost importance and would prefer to hide the bag completely. These concerns are sometimes in conflict so that in trying to conceal the bag, the patient may not keep it in the best location medically.
The gowns in current use offer little if any assistance to the patient in these matters and may even add problems. That is, patients may be discouraged from becoming ambulatory merely because of the clothing that hospitals usually provide patients to wear during their hospital stay. Typically a hospital provides a patient with a gown that opens along the back and has short ties that connect in the back and do not wrap or tie around the gown. Not only do these standard gowns fail to give patients a sense of privacy and dignity, they offer little or no assistance to the patient in dealing with the medical equipment that is attached to the patient.
Efforts have been made to provide hospital gowns that afford the patient with more privacy. Examples of such gowns are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,547,907; 4,837,863; 5,001,784; and 5,150,477. These gowns, however, are more complicated in construction than they need be, and they fail to provide any assistance to the patient in handling attached medical appliances. Other gowns and robes are commercially available that again do not have a simple but functional construction, and although some provide a telemetry pocket, even that is not provided in the most useful manner.
Multipurpose medical clothing, such as a gown or robe, is provided that safely accommodates medical appliances attached to a patient, affords privacy, and thus encourages the patient to be up and ambulatory. The clothing includes rectangular front and back panels open at the sides, belting, inside and outside pockets, and inside and outside hangers. The panels are of equal width greater than average human shoulder width to provide sleeves when worn, and may be wide enough to create a robe. The belting extends from the back panel around the sides lower and is tied in front. The front panel is slightly shorter than the back panel so that the panels are of about the same height when the gown is worn and belted. The pockets are attached to the inside and outside of the front panel below the belt line at substantially the same height and in transversely spaced relation to each other. The hangers are attached to the inside and outside of the front panel respectively below the inside and outside pockets. The gown or robe accommodates various medical appliances such as: a telemetry transmitter with its sensors attached to patient and its leads passing under the tied belting to relieve the pressure on the sensors; a catheter unit hung from either the inside or outside hangers, and thus below the patient""s bladder, with its tubing coiled and supported on the hangers; and IV tubing threaded through one of the loops formed by a hangers and thus supported between an adjacent mobile stand and the patient.
An object of this invention is to encourage patients to be up and ambulatory while attached to such medical appliances as intravenous drips, epidural infusions, telemetry devices, and/or Foley catheters.
Another object is to enable patients to be dressed with a sense of privacy and dignity.
An additional object is to provide multipurpose medical clothing such as a gown or robe that accommodates medical appliances attached to a patient, affords privacy, and thus encourages the patient to be up and ambulatory.
A further object is to support a relatively heavy and cumbersome medical appliance in an accessible position on the clothing worn by the patient so that the pulling forces where the appliance is attached to the patient are relieved.
Still another object is to support elongated extension members, such as tubes and leads, on the clothing worn by the patient so that the extensions do not drag on the floor and do not cause the patient to trip over them, to relieve the patient from having to hold them, and to minimize tensions where the extensions connect to the patient and the appliance.
Yet another object is to support certain medical appliances on the gown, robe or other clothing being worn by a patient in such a position as is most favorable for the intended purposes of the appliances.
An additional object is to provide places on both the inside and the outside of a gown or robe where medical appliances can be supported.
A further object is to provide a gown or robe of simple construction that affords a patient wearing it privacy and dignity and yet affords access by various attendants to the patient and to medical appliances that may be attached to the patient.
Still a further object is to provide a gown or robe that is suitable for institutional as well as home use.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reference to the following description, accompanying drawings, and appended claims.